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Death Knights is the name of two distinct orders of powerful necromancers. The original death knights of the Second War were powerful undead necromancers created by Gul'dan the Warlock to replace the warlocks slaughtered by Orgrim Doomhammer. The most prominent of the death knights was Teron Gorefiend. Years later a new order of Death Knights, now living humans, emerged during the Third War, most being former paladins who have forsaken the Holy Light and entered the service of the Lich King. Both orders share a few things in common including riding undead horses, and sharing some of the same abilities. Horde death knights During the First War, warlocks and necrolytes composed the magic users of the Horde. However, when Orgrim Doomhammer seized power for himself, the warlocks of the Shadow Council were branded as traitors to the Horde and executed en masse, leaving the Horde without its leading practitioners of demonic magic. Only Gul'dan the Warlock and a few others survived by pledging allegiance to the new warchief. left|thumb|[[Black Riders|Attumen the Huntsman.]]Seeking to please Doomhammer, Gul'dan promised him an army of undead warriors loyal only to him. After a number of failures, Gul'dan summoned his necrolyte followers and sacrificed them in an altar of Blackroot and Ironwood. This sacrifice allowed him to imbue the spirits of the members of the Shadow Council into the corpses of the fallen Knights of Stormwind. Thus the Death Knights were born. Each Death Knight was given a jeweled truncheon into which the powers of the slain necrolytes was imbued. Doomhammer was pleased with Gul'dan's creations, however, he ignored the fact that the spirits of the Shadow Council warlocks remained loyal to Gul'dan. The dreaded undead spellcasters were distributed among the Horde clans, and some of them crossed the Dark Portal and established themselves in Draenor, joining the forces of the Elder Shaman Ner'zhul as well as Mogor the Ogre-Lord. With the Alliance victory, most of the Death Knights were destroyed, though some of them were rallied by Teron Gorefiend, who offered his allegiance to Ner'zhul in exchange of a world for the Death Knights alone to conquer. During the destruction of Draenor, many Death Knights ventured alongside Ner'zhul into the Twisting Nether. Thus they were captured by the Burning Legion and transformed into Liches Fate following the Second War and the Draenor Expedition While a new, distinct order of death knights has arisen in Azeroth, no death knights of the original order are known to have survived. Any in Azeroth would likely have been destroyed by the Alliance of Lordaeron, though it is possible some did not follow Ner'zhul and remained on Draenor. It is believed by some that the Black Riders of Deadwind Pass are surviving death knights of this order (perhaps Attumen). This is speculated on in the Alliance Player's Guide and the Horde Player's Guide. Ghostriders the spirits of death knights still haunt the roads of Shadowmoon Valley. So far, the only physical Death Knight that has been spotted is the infamous Teron Gorefiend, who has joined forces with Illidan. As suggested by the Netherwing quest line, Teron Gorefiend has apparently created or is creating a new order of death knights from the ranks of the fel orcs. If these death knights are living or dead, its unclear. Death knights of the Scourge When Prince Arthas Menethil of Lordaeron gave himself over to Frostmourne during the Third War, he became Lich King Ner'zhul's first death knight, he succumbed to madness after his soul was stolen by the runeblade. He entered into the service of the Lich King, sworn to the Scourge and invested with dark powers to carry out its will. Since then paladin warriors who accede to the call of the Scourge and make a pact to serve the Lich King receive a vampiric runeblade specially crafted for them and are anointed by Ner'zhul as one of his death knights. Thus the Lich King fashions his corrupted paladins: his greatest champions - living or undead - in his campaign to conquer all of Azeroth. Other once-noble paladins would follow in Arthas' steps. During the fall of Lordaeron, the Order of the Silver Hand was disbanded, and its leader Uther Lightbringer slain. Some of the paladins traveled to the plague-ridden colonies, seeking to continue to help the people of the land. Though the Paladins were immune to disease of any kind, they were persecuted by the general populace who believed that they had been infected by the foul plague. Embittered by this rejection, a few traveled north to find the plague's source. Much as Arthas had before them, these renegade paladins succumbed to bitter hatred over the course of their grueling quest. When they finally reached Ner'zhul's icy fortress in Northrend they had become dark and brooding. The Lich King offered them untold power in exchange for their services and loyalty. The weary, vengeful warriors accepted his dark pact, and although they retained their humanity, their twisted souls were bound to his evil will for all time. Bestowed with black runeblades and shadowy undead steeds, death knights serve as the Scourge's mightiest generals.'' Class possibilities Originally planned as one of the classes along with Necromancer, this did not make release. It is rumoured that this will be a Hero Class later on. Blizzard did leave a few hints regarding Death Knights as a class. One of the famous ones would be this shield which appears to be useless since no class that uses shadow spells can equip shields... for now. Tabletop * In the tabletop Warcraft RPG, the death knight is a prestige class (an advanced class that requires certain attributes/abilities for entry). It is comparable and virtually interchangeable with the Blackguard, a prestige class in standard Dungeons & Dragons. Famous death knights Other Death Knights; Lord Nightsorrow, Lord Soulrender, Lord Dethstorm, Lord Maldazzar, Lord Darkhallow, Lord Lightstalker, Baron Bloodbane, Baron Felblade, Duke Dreadmoore, Duke Ragereaver, Baron Frostfel, Lord Darkscythe, Duke Wintermaul, and Baron Morte. See also *Deathknight (WoW game) *Necro Knight *Dark Knight *statistics of death knights in Warcraft II *Death Knight, Warcraft II Strategy Category:Creatures Category:Undead Category:Death Knights Category:Classes Category:Warcraft I, II, III Units/Classes